nths before had been brown, was streaked with gray.
His face, tanned by exposure, was seamed as with age. A long livid scar
across the forehead marked the stroke of a sabre; one cheek was drawn
and puckered by the work of a bullet. Only a woman of the loyal North
would have thought the man handsome.

"Armisted--Captain," said the Governor, extending his hand, "do you not
know me?"

"I know you, sir, and I salute you--as the Governor of my State."

Lifting his right hand to the level of his eyes he threw it outward and
downward. In the code of military etiquette there is no provision for
shaking hands. That of the civilian was withdrawn. If he felt either
surprise or chagrin his face did not betray it.

"It is the hand that signed your commission," he said.

"And it is the hand--"

The sentence remains unfinished. The sharp report of a rifle came from
the front, followed by another and another. A bullet hissed through the
forest and struck a tree near by. The men sprang from the ground and
even before the captain's high, clear voice was done intoning the
command "At-ten-tion!" had fallen into line in rear of the stacked arms.
Again--and now through the din of a crackling fusillade--sounded the
strong, deliberate sing-song of authority: "Take... arms!" followed by
the rattle of unlocking bayonets.

Bullets from the unseen enemy were now flying thick and fast, though
mostly well spent and emitting the humming sound which signified
interference by twigs and rotation in the plane of flight. Two or three
of the men in the line were already struck and down. A few wounded men
came limping awkwardly out of the undergrowth from the skirmish line in
front; most of them did not pause, but held their way with white faces
and set teeth to the rear.

Suddenly there was a deep, jarring report in front, followed by the
startling rush of a shell, which passing overhead exploded in the edge
of a thicket, setting afire the fallen leaves. Penetrating the din--
seeming to float above it like the melody of a soaring bird--rang the
slow, aspirated monotones of the captain's several commands, without
emphasis, without accent, musical and restful as an evensong under the
harvest moon. Familiar with this tranquilizing chant in moments of
imminent peril, these raw soldiers of less than a year's training
yielded themselves to the spell, executing its mandates with the
composure and precision of veterans. Even the distinguished civilian
be